US retailer The Children’s Place plans to open 100 stores in India

“The brand has had cautious start but will have a rapid scale-up. We will be ending the financial year, March 2016, with locations in double digits. Hence it is 2016 which will be the year of rapid scale-up,” said Rai.ETRetail | Updated: October 28, 2015, 12:58 IST

“The brand has had cautious start but will have a rapid scale-up. We will be ending 2015 with locations in double digits. Hence it is 2016 which will be the year of rapid scale-up,” said Rai.By Smriti Basnet

New Delhi: The Children’s Place, American specialty retailer of children’s apparel and accessories, is looking to rapidly increase the number of its outlets in India, its business head Mridumesh Rai said.

The retailer plans to open 100 stores in the next four-five years with a capital investment of Rs 1-1.2 crore and a similar investment in inventory per store.

The retailer, in partnership with Arvind Lifestyle Brands, opened its first standalone store in Orion, Bengaluru, in August. This was followed by the launch of two stores-in-store at Shoppers Stop in Mumbai and an online partnership with ecommerce kids fashion store Hopscotch.

“The brand has had cautious start but will have a rapid scale-up. We will be ending the financial year, March 2016, with locations in double digits. Hence it is 2016 which will be the year of rapid scale-up,” said Rai.

He said the company is planning to expand its presence in key malls and high street locations.

According to Indiaretailing.com, while boys wear accounted for 52% of sales for retailers in 2014, The Children’s Place generated 60% of its sales from girls wear.

Similarly, according to the company, it earned 40% of its revenue from the six months to five years age group, a segment which is considered risky because parents are wary of spending on clothes that the children will fast outgrow. Rai said the company’s revenue in this segment is double that of the other retailers.

“Whatever trends we have seen in the Indian kids wear retail industry are not because of the demand side realities, these are because of the supply side constraints – because there were no supplies, the demand could not be generated,” said Rai.

The Children’s Place offers a wide range at the right price points and fashion to its customers, he said.

In India, the company is offering imported products at a lower price. On key products and entry point products the price is 30% cheaper on average than in the US. For other products, the price is 10% lower on average.

For now, the company is importing all products from the US. It will start local sourcing only when the “scale is big enough on the product that India is competitive in”.

The retailer is targeting business of Rs 500 crore a year in India in the next four-five years, Rai said.

India’s kids wear market is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore. Indiaretailing.com said in March 2014 that this largely unorganised market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.5% over the next ten years.